Jim Harbaugh’s Clock Management Cost Michigan Football in Orange Bowl
UIFor the second straight game, Jim Harbaugh made some curious clock decisions that ultimately cost Michigan football a chance to win.
There are a lot of reasons why Michigan football fell to Florida State in the 2016 Orange Bowl Friday night. But possibly one reason was the poor clock management of Jim Harbaugh.
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Against Florida State, Harbaugh made a huge mistake in the final minutes. With his team leading by three and with the Noles deep in the red zone, Harbaugh, who had three timeouts, failed to use a single one to save time for his offense.
After a second-down play, 30 seconds ticked off the clock before Florida State took a timeout. That came with 42 seconds left. On the next play, FSU scored. Michigan football blocked the PAT and returned it for two points, but still trailed 33-32 with 36 seconds left.
Had Harbaugh used his timeout after second down, his team would have started its final drive with more than a minute on the clock and two timeouts.
In college football, that’s an eternity.
Instead, the Wolverines had 36 seconds to work with and around 50 yards to gain. Yes, UM had all three time outs, but 30 seconds is a huge difference. Once that time ticks away, it never comes back.
With little time to work, Michigan needed big play in a hurry. That caused the playbook to be limited and forced the Wolverines to take shots downfield.
Yes, Speight did miss an open receiver on third down, but even if he completed the pass, Michigan would have still needed another 20 yards or so, with only 20 seconds or so to do it.
Certainly, the use of timeouts is debatable. But in a similar situation against Ohio State, Harbaugh employed the same strategy.
Ohio State kicked a field goal with just seconds left to tie the game, then on the ensuing kickoff, Jourdan Lewis returned the ball to midfield.
Had Harbaugh taken a timeout on the Buckeyes last drive, Michigan might have had 30 seconds to drive the 25 yards or so needed to try a field goal. Overtime could have been avoided altogether.
Instead, Lewis’ return was the final play of regulation and Michigan ended up losing in overtime.
Certainly, there is no guarantee that an extra 30 seconds could have saved Michigan football in the Orange Bowl, but thanks to Harbaugh, we will never know.
As quickly as Harbaugh has turned things around at UM, he still needs to find a way to win close games. He’s 3-5 in one-possession games the past two years.
That number is not great and Michigan football won’t get where it needs to be until that it’s resolved.
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Harbaugh’s poor clock management isn’t the only problem. But is an issue and one would hope, after losing three games by five points, it’s something he evaluates this offseason.